Deeper by Valerie Broussard

Su Yu was frightened into awareness. He quickly condensed a mirror out of spiritual energy, and once he looked in, his face instantly turned black. Inside, the two little beast demons were carefully spreading some kind of salve onto the sleeping Ling Tian's wrist.

Even though they were only touching a hand, Su Yu still felt extremely irritated. His lover – how could common people touch so easily?

Su Yu tightened his fist and made a pulling motion, directly summoning the two little beast demons to his side with a bit of spiritual energy.

The two beast demon were extremely engrossed in their work. Who knew that in a moment, after a feeling of dizziness, they would leave Ling Tian's cave and directly appear before the Demon Elder?? Both beast demons had looks of shock on their faces.

What just happened? They're not dreaming, are they?

"What are you doing?" Su Yu asked in a cold voice.

The two little beast demons instantly regained their senses, "Replying Demon Elder, just now we were…. we were helping Ling Tian gongzi rest." [T/N: gongzi is an honorific of respect for a noble/wealthy family's son.]

Su Yu's face became darker and he moved his spiritual energy to grip the necks of these beast demons. "This Honoured Elder does not like to hear lies. You have one last chance, if you do not make the right decision, then I don't mind giving Ling Tian two new servants."

The two little demons faced each other, a look of struggle and hesitation on their faces. They did not want to die, but if they really told the truth, then probably wouldn't be far from death anyways?

"Oh, don't get me wrong. What this Honoured Elder means is not to simply take your lives, but rather to slowly you torture you until you are begging for death." Su Yu narrowed his eyes, adding lightly.

The two little beast demons were so frightened that they began to shiver. They didn't dare hesitate any longer, crying for mercy, "Begging Demon Elder for mercy, we do not dare."

"So, what were you doing?" Su Yu asked again.

This time, the little beast demons dared not to be evasive, instead confessing honestly, "We do not know what it is, but before, a very strong beast demon gave this to us, telling us that as long as we spread this on Ling Tian's palm daily, then after a month, he would give us each a Bone-Rebirth Pill, so that we could cultivate too."

In the beast cultivation world, transforming into a human form was only the starting point of cultivation. Many demons could change their shape, but could not condense the spiritual energy necessary for cultivation, let alone forming their Demonic Spirit Bead. This was where the Bone-Rebirth Pill came into play.

Therefore, even in the beast cultivation world, the Bone-Rebirth Pill was a very popular and precious medicine.

The rules of the beast cultivation world and the Taoist cultivation world were very different. In the Taoist community, there were lots of sects and Seniors often looked out for their Juniors. However, in the beast cultivation world, everyone acts independently and therefore one's status was fully dependent on their power and strength. The weak were often just food to the strong. Many of the strong were naturally inclined to keeping those who couldn't cultivate by their sides as a servant, to prevent them from birthing any rebellious thoughts.

"Who is the beast demon that instructed you to do this?" Su Yu narrowed his eyes, his thoughts beginning to turn.

"When he found us, he had taken the Shape-shifting Pill, so we don't know his true looks or identity," the two little beast demons replied as they shook their head.

These words caused Su Yu to laugh out loud. "You don't even know who they are, and yet you so easily believed them? Stupid!"

"We didn't believed him, but he was very tall, very powerful. If we had refused, then he would have killed us, and so we…" In the beast cultivation world, it wasn't uncommon for the weak to be oppressed by the strong.

Looking at the two little beast's helpless expressions, Su Yu relentlessly exposed them, "If you were really just afraid of losing your lives, then why didn't you inform this Honoured Elder of this matter? At the end of the day, it looks like you two are still thinking of that Bone-Rebirth Pill!"

The two little beast bowed their heads and stopped talking. The truth was as Su Yu had said.

"Where's the salve he gave you? Go back and get it." Su Yu flicked his sleeves. Since they were supposed to use it for a whole month, then there obviously should still be a lot left.

Since their actions had already been exposed, the two beast demons naturally dared not to act otherwise, rushing off to grab the salve and then kneeling before Su Yu to plead for mercy, "Demon Elder, we dare not to act the first few days. We just started today, so this thing should have had no impact on Ling Tian gongzi yet."

Since they had been thoroughly exposed, the two little demons could only hope to lessen their guilty sentence by acting agreeable.

Su Yu didn't speak immediately. He carefully examined the ointment inside the jade bottle, and then slowly commanded, "You two retreat to your quarters first. You are not allowed to mention today's affairs to any other, understand?"

The two little demons rushed to give an affirmative reply, and then bowed and retreated.

As soon as they left, Su Yu threw the jade bottle at Round Ball, stating, "Figure out what this is."

The fact that Su Yu did not directly deal with these two beast demons was obviously not out of the goodness of his heart. He just wanted to verify his suspicions first.

The little ball took the jade bottle and looked it over carefully, before once again exclaiming loudly, "This, this is … It's a Soul Assimilation Salve!"

"What is a Soul Assimilation Salve?" Su Yu frowned. Even just judging by the name, it didn't seem to be a good thing.

"Master Host, you don't know but in the cultivation world, there is a very evil technique called the Soul Assimilation Technique. It is used to directly control another person's mind for their own use," Round Ball created a classroom and began its lecture. "However, while this technique sounds very scary, it is actually not as terrible as the rumours describe because to use this technique successfully, one must also use the Soul Assimilation Salve."

Hearing this, Su Yu's eyes flashed slightly. So, someone actually wanted to use this evil thing on his lover?

"The Soul Assimilation Salve is actually quite similar to the existence of spiritual energy – it can be absorbed by the practitioner. However, its efficacy is the opposite of spiritual energy – once the practitioner absorbs this into the body long-term, it is very likely to delay the practitioner's cultivation. if they tried to break through, it could cause the practitioner to stagnate, become delirious, or even birth heart demons." Round Ball continued its science class in an orderly manner, "It is only with the simultaneous use of the Soul Assimilation Technique that it may succeed. But even then, there is a high chance of failure in obtaining full control of the other's mind, so this technique really isn't as terrible as the rumours make it out to be."

"So it was like that." Su Yu's eyes flashed even more fiercely. Since someone dared to calculate Ling Tian, then no matter who the other was, he would personally teach them a lesson worth remembering. Since they were seeking death, then even if they knelt and begged for forgiveness, they would still need to bear the consequences.

After completing its lecture, Round Ball regained its earlier startled state, crying out, "So someone wants to use the Soul Assimilation Technique on the Male Protagonist, that's terrible!! Although the success rate isn't high, but once successful, this could be a devastating blow! And this was not mentioned in the original plot ah. Master Host, could it be that your master-apprentice ceremony was too high-profile, and it attracted this disaster for the Male Protagonist?"

"Shut up!" Su Yu helplessly glanced at the IQ-deficient Round Ball, and only asked once he saw the other fall silent, "Why do you think this is caused by me? Maybe it happened in the original plot too?"

"But there was no mention of it in the original plot." Round Ball replied somewhat dazed.

Su Yu couldn't help but roll his eyes at the little ball. "Just because the original plot did not mention it does not necessarily mean that it did not happen. Haven't you realized yet how unreliable the original plotline is?"

Round Ball felt like it was once again treated with contempt by its host, but it had nothing to say in its own defence. "So… Do you mean to say it actually happen in the original plot too?"

"Have you forgotten the question I asked you before? That tiger demon who appeared in the original plot and somehow became Ling Tian's attendant…. Do you not see a problem here?" Su Yu simply felt that there was no more hope for the little ball's IQ to increase. Such a simple thing, and it couldn't think of the answer?

Round Ball flashed its lights as it thought carefully, and then suddenly exclaimed with realization, "I know! In the original plot, that tiger demon must have deliberately destroyed his own cultivation in order to approach the Male Protagonist. Because otherwise, he would not have been able to enter our household as a servant. Therefore, he must be the enemy behind the scenes, right? And as for the motivation, it must be that he is jealous of the Male Protagonist for becoming your apprentice, so he did this for revenge. Yes, it must be this way!"

"....." Su Yu couldn't help but declare, "Round Ball, our brain circuits are on two completely different tracts. I don't think we need to communicate any more."

As a high-level intelligence system, it has already thought of the dog blood 'crippled one's own cultivation to act as a servant in a bide for revenge' drama, and yet it didn't consider the more logical explanation that in the original plot, perhaps this tiger demon couldn't cultivate, but here in this world, some 3rd party helped it to become a practitioner. What more could Su Yu say in the face of this?

The little ball shook innocently, somewhat unsure, "Did I say something wrong? Beast demons who have the ability to become cultivators really can't pass as lowly attendants!"

"It's not that there's something wrong with your logic, it's that your mind spins in the complete opposite direction compared to normal people." Su Yu looked at the little ball with a helpless smile, feeling defeated by the other's magical brain circuit. He had already giving up on raising the others IQ to his own level – after all, he had a method of raising the Male Protagonist's IQ, but not for raising his system's IQ.

Round Ball's heart hurt, but it still didn't know what was wrong with its judgment. QAQ

Su Yu sighed and began explaining his own analysis, "The original tiger demon was very similar to these two little beast demon servants. He also did not have any cultivation – the reason why he can cultivate now is likely due to the 3rd party behind the scene's intervention. However, since I had effectively crippled the tiger demon during the ceremony, he is now a useless pawn and hence, these two little demons appeared. They are carrying out what the original tiger demon had done in the original plotline."

"So it was like that!" Round Ball finally gained enlightenment. However, a new question quickly arose. "So who really is the person acting behind the scenes? In the original plot, the only enemy that the Male Protagonist had should be Mo Han, right? But Mo Han had just been crippled by you…. he shouldn't have the power to do this kind of thing, right?"

Su Yu glanced at the little ball like it was an idiot. "The other party isn't acting against the Male Protagonist, they are acting against me."

"Ah?" Round Ball was a little stunned, "But their target is clearly the Male Protagonist! Also, you are the Demon Elder – no other can even try to compare with you, so why would they want to act against you?"

"I don't know their true purpose just yet, but if the Ling Tian of the original plot really fell victim to this Soul Assimilation Technique," Su Yu slightly narrowed his eyes, his voice carrying a tone of mysteriousness, "then the number of times he really had amnesia should only be once, not twice."

Translator: Lone Wolf Translations